Giovanni Francesco Castiglione was the first child of Giovanni Benedetto and became one of his principal assistants. He remained in Mantua after his father’s death and was appointed court artist to Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, 10th Duke of Mantua, in 1681. He remained faithful to his father’s style throughout his life and recycled many of his compositions, though his drawings and paintings are rather dry and laboured, with little of the flair of Giovanni Benedetto’s.